I Was the Scout for the Hero’s Party

“Ugh… let go..!! Let go of this! Just kill me instead! Sob..”
…What the fuck am I doing right now?
Momentarily entranced by “those lines” that suddenly appeared, I snapped back to reality at the female knight’s tear-filled voice as her hair was being grabbed.

Positioned in the grass where I could see the female knight directly, with the orcs who were grabbing the resisting knight and snickering behind them, I quickly assessed the enemies’ movements and estimated their numbers.

Two, four, six… roughly fourteen in total.
About ten of them were gathered near the female knight and captured soldiers, snickering, while the remaining four were scattered around keeping watch.

Unlike wild tribal orcs with low intelligence, they showed somewhat organized behavior… and decisively, ominous marks drawn on their hardened leather armor.
They’re pawns of the Demon King’s army.

I silently approached the orc standing in front of the grass where I was hiding and wrapped a cloth around his face.

“…?!!?!!”

Quickly muffling his mouth with the cloth, I dragged the orc’s heavy body into the grass and held my short sword to his neck.

“#$@&$&?!!… #$$@!..!!!”

“Shh… Quiet. Look back and you die.”

The stealth techniques honed in the Rangers, Metel Kingdom’s elite unit, don’t tolerate even the slightest noise.
Not the rustling of grass when walking, not the captive’s breathing, not even the sound of a heartbeat.

When I lightly cut his neck with the sharp blade, the orc who had been about to struggle stiffened like a wooden doll and nodded.

“That’s right. You’re a friend who listens well? Now… I’ll let you speak for a moment, so answer my questions. You know it won’t be fun if you shout. Understood?”

I can feel his breath becoming rough against my palm, and I can see his ears trembling.
As the orc nodded again, I lowered the cloth covering his mouth and placed my hand on his Adam’s apple.
If he tried to shout, I would tear out his vocal cords right then and there.

“Kuik… Keugh… Hack…”

“Yes, yes. Ready to answer?”

“Queek…. You… Who… who are you…”

“Oh… No, no. Wrong answer… At times like this, you say ‘yes.'”

“…What do you want?”

I’m not satisfied with his answer, but I’ll let it slide.

“Now… First, your name and affiliation?”

“Kuik… Demon King’s army, 7th Legion, Red Feather Unit… Morg…”

“…Right, Morg. Why are you here? Wasn’t the Demon King’s army supposed to be pursuing the hero’s party that entered the forest?”

“..We are… Kuik… a separate unit detached from the main force… Queek… We were assigned to handle… those who transport supplies to the human forces near the edge of the forest…”

-Queek!! Where did Morg go!

-Don’t know. Kuik! Morg!! Where are you, Morg! Kuik!

…Time is running out. The female knight’s resistance was weakening. If there was one good thing, it was that the orcs weren’t immediately trying to pounce on her.

Glancing at the orcs who were watching the fiercely resisting female knight with lewd smiles, I asked Morg one last question.

“Alright, Morg. By my count, there seem to be about fourteen of you… Are there others?”

“…Can’t tell you… Kuik!”

“I thought so.”

I immediately grabbed his throat, tore out his vocal cords, and hid the slowly dying Morg behind a tree as he made nothing but gurgling sounds while blood gushed out. I threw his twitching vocal cords into the grass.

Since they had been fighting until just now, the smell of blood wasn’t noticeable.

-Kuik! Morg! Where did you go!

-Did Morg go to pee? Kuik!

Contrary to what Morg had concealed, I couldn’t sense any other presences nearby.

I quietly raised my crossbow to target two orcs searching for Morg, and placed a smoke bolt between the fingers of my hand gripping the sword hilt, ready to load immediately.

As the wind died down, I focused my sight through the sight notch to the bolt tip.
The moment the heads of the two orcs standing side by side aligned diagonally.

-Thwang!

The bolt, carrying the tremendous power of the string made of several twisted strands of thin wire-like, flexible yet strong mithril, cleanly tore through the temples and between the eyes of both orcs.

-Thunk!

As the bolt that had penetrated both orcs hit a tree with the sound of splintering wood, and the orcs gathered around the female knight and soldiers turned their heads, I had already loaded a second bolt.

Rapid fire, my signature technique that no one in the ranger unit could match during my service.
The moment our eyes met, I immediately fired the loaded smoke bolt.

-Thwung!!

The bolt that lodged directly into an orc’s chest exploded, spewing enormous amounts of smoke. The orcs, their vision instantly obscured by blood mist and smoke, began to panic.

“Queek!! What’s happening!!”

“Human! It’s a human! Enemy!!”

I firmly gripped my short sword and quickly leapt out of the grass, charging toward the orcs.

I swiftly slashed the neck of an orc who was coughing as he emerged from the edge of the smoke, then shot my crossbow at the forehead of another orc behind the falling one who was clutching his spurting neck.

Including Morg, six had fallen instantly, leaving eight enemies.
After cutting the throats of three more orcs emerging from the smoke, the smoke began to clear.

“Cough!!! Hack!! Keugh..!! Ev.. Everyone gather! Don’t spread out!! Kuik!”

Indeed, an orc affiliated with the Demon King’s army. Quite intelligent.
I lightly shook my bloodied short sword to splatter the blood, then turned my gaze to the position of the leader orc who was trying to gather the remaining orcs in the half-cleared smoke where visibility was somewhat restored.

I loaded a grappling hook bolt into my crossbow, quickly aimed at the leader orc’s nape, and fired.

-Thunk!

“Kuiiiiik!!!!! Human!!! Gurgle… Where are you..!!!”

The grappling hook that pierced the leader orc’s neck caught perfectly, and I strongly pulled the crossbow with the hook bolt firmly secured by rope.

I ran toward the leader orc being helplessly dragged like a fish on a hook, drove my short sword into his heart, and quickly assessed the positions of the surviving orcs in the almost completely cleared smoke.

Two orcs coughing in front, one orc crawling on the right searching for his dropped weapon in the hazy visibility, and one on the left screaming loudly while constantly rubbing his eyes that seemed to have been hit by debris from the exploded smoke bolt, blood flowing from them.

After detaching the grappling hook bolt and quickly loading a regular bolt, I fired two bolts in rapid succession at the two coughing orcs in front, threw a throwing dagger at the throat of the blinded orc, then leapt at the orc fumbling on the ground and drove my knife into the back of his neck.

As the smoke completely cleared, no orcs remained standing.

“Damn it… if it had been that hero bitch, they would all have died with a single sword strike.”

I walked across the ground where orcs lay scattered everywhere, collecting bolts that were still intact.
These bolts with orihalcon tips were so expensive that my jaw would drop at the price. Having left the hero’s party, I couldn’t afford to waste even a single shot.

The bolts I salvaged… three of them.

“Um… excuse me…”

Just as I was putting the usable bolts into my quiver, the female knight who had been coughing from the smoke approached me.

“Yes?”

“I am Orien Alexis, eldest daughter of Duke Alexis. May I have the honor of knowing your name, sir?”

Alexis… Duke Alexis…

“…Ah.”

I remembered.
Three years ago, when the hero’s party had an audience with the king, a man with impressive mustache standing next to the king in the audience chamber.
When we first met in the audience chamber, he suggested to me, a commoner, that I might “hear unpleasant things as a commoner in the hero’s party,” and offered to grant me the title of baron if I would later become his vassal.

“…I am Austin, formerly of the Rangers. It is an honor to meet you, Lady Alexis.”

Not wanting to reveal that I had been a member of the hero’s party, I only mentioned my service in the Rangers.

“Austin… Austin……. Could you be… the one who was with the Hero?”

Damn, she figured it out immediately.

“…You know me?”

“Of course I do! We met at the palace three years ago! Do you… remember me too, Sir Austin?”

I found it quite amusing that she addressed me, a commoner, with the honorific “Sir,” so I smiled slightly and spoke.

“Yes. I remember a young lady who was fidgeting behind Duke Alexis, clutching his clothes. I see you’ve grown into a fine young woman.”

“Oh… How mischievous. Really…”

I felt a strange dissonance seeing Lady Alexis blush while wearing heavy armor that seemed too heavy even for an adult man, but my attention quickly turned to the soldiers treating the wounded behind her.

“What brings Lady Alexis to a place like this?”

“…Ah…”

Lady Alexis, following my gaze, looked at the fallen soldiers with sad eyes and spoke.

“We departed from Quiln to deliver supplies to troops confronting the Demon King’s army… but shamefully, we lost our way and ended up entering the forest.”

It’s truly a pitiful situation.
Normally, each unit on the front line is assigned two rangers as standard, but the Rangers don’t just let anyone join their ranks.
Manpower is limited, and the demand is high.
And this is the result.

The hero’s party would also have difficulty finding a new ranger unless they returned directly to the capital.

“If it’s not too presumptuous, may I accompany you?”

With the supply wagon already destroyed and half the unit dead from the orc attack, continuing the mission would be foolish.
Lady Alexis seemed to share my thoughts, as her face brightened and she nodded repeatedly at my words.

“Yes! Of course! If Sir Austin accompanies us, I would feel much more at ease!”

After receiving Lady Alexis’s consent, I gathered plenty of supplies and food, then began walking at the head of the soldiers, side by side with Lady Alexis.

“Um… Sir Austin?”

“Yes, Lady Alexis?”

“So… where are the Hero and her companions…?”

“…Ah, that.”

After pondering briefly while looking at the map, I answered with a whatever-happens-happens attitude.

“I left the party.”

“Fuck… Fuck!! Adrienne! Where the hell are these bastards shooting from?!”

“Right! From between the trees on the right!”

“Which right?! Tell me which right!!”

Hero Yoo-jung, who had just cut down a fireball that had flown right up to her nose with her holy sword, shouted at Adrienne.

Due to suddenly appearing Skeleton Arch Mages and endless waves of high-level ghouls, her shoulder plates were already dented and blood was flowing from her head.

“This fucking… Gracey! Take the lead!! Maya!!!”

“Urgh…. The shield won’t last much longer..!! Maya.. hurry..!”

“Ungh… W-Wind!”

The gale Maya summoned swept through the area where fireballs had been coming from, and as the Skeleton Arch Mage who had been casting was destroyed, the high-level ghouls melted like slime.

“Phew… huff……. Why is this so hard? What the hell!”

The hero, who had collapsed on the ground and stuck her holy sword into the earth, was furious at the current situation where enemies that had been easily dealt with until recently had suddenly become extremely difficult.

And the fact that this was due to Austin’s absence was something all of them knew.
At this point, it would be strange not to know.

“…We need to… bring Mr. Austin back. We also need to return to the city to repair our equipment.”

As Isabel, whose stamina had been depleted by a single battle, spoke with difficulty while sitting down, silence fell over the party.

As the name that no one had mentioned until now was brought up again, everyone looked at each other awkwardly until Adrienne messed up her hair and spoke.

“…Damn it, alright. I have to admit that we need Austin to some extent. We can’t go back to the capital now to recruit a new scout.”

“Hmm… Indeed, finding a new scout would be difficult. I’ve heard that the Rangers are struggling with personnel deployment due to shortages. Even if we went to the capital to recruit a new scout, we’d probably only get a thief from the Mercenary Guild at best.”

Gracey agreed with Adrienne while examining her scorched and dented shield, and Maya, who was wiping off ghoul blood, nodded in agreement.

“…Let’s go. Find him. Austin.”

The women struggled to their feet and unfolded one of the few items Austin had left behind—a map—to look for the nearest city.

Since Austin had meticulously recorded the routes they had taken so far, it wasn’t difficult to find their location.

“…Quiln.”

Concluding that if Austin had left them, he would surely have gone here, the hero gripped her holy sword tightly and began walking in the lead.

If Austin wouldn’t come with them willingly, they would bring him back by force.